Nigerian Letter Scam

A Nigerian Letter scam does not have to come from Nigeria, nor does it have to be a ‘letter.’ This type of fraud can be from any country in the form of a letter, email, voicemail, or even a text on your cell phone. But the result is the same...and it is not pretty from the victim’s perspective.

A Nigerian Letter (often referred to as a Nigerian 419) tries to access your personal finances. The scam plays on your sympathy and greed—you think you will make a fortune just by helping out a stranger, but the perpetrators want to empty your bank account.

The scam works like this:

Step 1: You are sent a form of payment for a large amount, like $8 million.

Step 2: You deposit the payment into your account, and you are instructed to keep part of it, say $4 million.

Step 3: You wire transfer the remaining $4 million to the sender.

Step 4: Everything in your account is drained because you have insufficient funds to cover a $4 million check.

Step 5:That $8 million never cleared into your account before you sent the wire transfer of $4 million.